Stephenson leaving Clemson Women’s team

Lauren Stephenson announced via Twitter that she was leaving Clemson to enroll at Alabama.

EDITORS NOTE:

We have updated a part of the story since first published. Please see the editors note at the end of the story.

Lauren Stephenson of Lexington announced on her Twitter account that she is leaving Clemson and going to Alabama.

Stephenson who became the first Clemson women’s golfer to play in the NCAA Tournament last month. She was named to the All-Region team after finishing fifth at the Shoal Creek Regional.

Most recently the former South Carolina AAAA state high school champion qualified to play in the US Women’s Open.

Stephenson was the first Clemson women’s golf to play in the NCAA Championship.

In her year at Clemson, Stephenson won a tournament at Yale and was the teams top player in three of the last four tournaments.

Stephenson was a top-10 national recruit coming out of high school. She had earned first team Rolex All-American status from the AJGA. During her final year as a junior she won the AJGA Junior Girls Championship.

The Alabama program she will join is coached by one time Furman Women’s Golf Coach Mic Potter. The Crimson Tide was ranked as the top team in the country for much of the year. However, Alabama failed to make the cut for match play at the NCAA Women’s championship.

Stephenson won a college tournament at Yale and the Dixie Women’s Amateur.

Stephenson is the second high profile golfer to leave Clemson after just one year.

Ashlan Ramsey left Clemson after her freshman year to turn pro. Ramsey is now on the LPGA Tour.

Editors Note:

In a previous version of this story we included a Twitter quote from Al Ramsey who is the father of Ashlan.

It is important to note that while Ramsey was critical of the program his older daughter Taylor was one of Clemson’s first recruits and graduated this year.

Upon receiving further information we decided to remove the quote from the story because of questions raised about the motive behind Mr. Ramsey’s comments.

We will continue to follow the story and update when new information is available.

Photo from Lauren Stephenson’s Twitter feed. Other photos from The Golf Club Newspaper.